GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION: The Interns, Residents and Fellows are here!

New “interns” joined with “residents” of the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) and the Hawai`i Residency Program, Inc. (HRP) for a reception at the University of Hawai`i medical school on June 28,2013 to relax a bit before a new year of training begins.

“Residents” are working MDs training for licensure or board certification under the supervision of faculty MDs. “Interns” are brand new “residents”. Got all that?

By choosing to perform their residency here, our new residents are likely to become the best in their fields. How do we know that? Well, in 2013, more than 80% of MDs selected as “Hawai`i’s Best Doctors*” were graduates of our medical school, graduate medical education and/or were on our faculty.

With no University hospital, our post-MD graduate medical education programs and post-residency fellowships are “embedded” within Hawai`i’s major medical treatment centers, our partners in training–The Queen’s Medical Center, Kapi`olani Medical Center for Women and Children, Kuakini Medical Center, Wahiawā General Hospital and Kaiser Permanente. The Veterans Administration and the Hawai`i State Department of Health are also affiliated with HRP.

HRP employs the Residents and Fellows and coordinates the administration of the university-directed residency training programs. HRP also acts as a liaison between the programs and the affiliated training hospitals. Although Residents and Fellows train primarily in the major O`ahu hospitals mentioned above, other training sites include facilities on neighbor islands such as Hilo Medical Center, Maui Memorial Medical Center, and Moloka`i General.

Our approximately 250 residents and fellows train in Internal Medicine (including Cardiovascular Disease), Surgery (including Surgical Critical Care), Geriatric Medicine, Family Medicine (including Sports Medicine), Psychiatry (including Geriatric, Child and Adolescent and Addictions), Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics (including Neonatal-Perinatal), Pathology and Orthopaedic Surgery. A Transitional Year Residency Program provides a single year of clinical experience in various disciplines such as medicine and surgery, the prelude to additional specialties. The Triple Board Residency Program is accredited by Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. A Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship is also offered.

Between the students studying to earn their MDs and the physicians training in residency and fellowships, JABSOM oversees the medical education of more than 500 health professionals per year in Hawai`i. JABSOM’s partnership with HRP and Hawai`i’s major medical centers ensures a high-quality physician workforce for the State. About half of the physicians currently practicing medicine in Hawai`i are alumni of JABSOM and its residency training programs.

*”Hawai`i’s Best Doctors”: The annual “Best Doctors” list is determined by the doctors themselves, through a survey in which physicians are asked, “If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty, to whom would you refer them?” The Boston-based medical consulting company “Best Doctors, Inc.” compiles the annual list of “America’s Best Doctors”.